Verizon Delays Releasing XDA III Pocket PC Phone

Verizon Wireless has been working to add EV-DO to its cellular-wireless network. This will bring its data-transfer speed up to a theoretical maximum of 2.4 MBps.

Naturally, this means Verizon will have to release some devices that support ED-DO. One of these is going to be the XDA III, designed by High Tech Computer (HTC) of Taiwan.

Unfortunately, Verizon Wireless Info is reporting that Verizon Wireless has run into problems deploying EV-DO, which is going to delay the roll-out until the middle of 2005. Even then, it is only going to be available in select cities (San Francisco, Tampa, and New York City).

It’s possible the MDA III may be released by Verizon Wireless before then without EV-DO enabled.

More about the XDA III

The XDA III will use a traditional tablet design, plus it will sport a small QWERTY keyboard that is exposed when the 3.5-inch, QVGA screen slides up.

It will run the Phone Edition of Windows Mobile 2003 on a 400 MHz Intel XScale PXA263 processor. It will include 128 MB of RAM, plus it will have an SD slot for additional storage. This will also offer SDIO support.

Like a lot of cellular-wireless handhelds, the XDA III will include a built-in 0.3 megapixel camera capable of taking VGA pictures.

T-Mobile has announced a version of this device in Europe (see picture at left), where it will include Wi-Fi. At this point, though, it appears that Verizon’s version will just have Bluetooth.

The XDA III received FCC approval in August. All the documentation filed with the FCC can be found on that government agency’s web site.